New political tone in America

[victor steinbok]

This is not an innovation per se. It comes from fairly standard illusionist
jargon which, unfortunately, entered pop-culture with two films that came
out at about the same time--The Illusionist and The Prestige. I've noticed
it being used in some TV shows since then, so it's not surprising that it's
been adopted for something far more ordinary than the illusionist
"reveal"--a simple revelation.

Of course, pop-culture entry goes back a bit further:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0913409/ (1998)

ADH4 lists other meanings:

1.a. The part of the side of a window or door opening that is between the
outer surface of a wall and the window or door frame.
b. The whole side of such an opening; the jamb.
2. The framework of a motor vehicle window.

MWOL also has an entry that combines 1.a. and b.

The only on-line dictionary that has an "updated" definition is Wiktionary:

2. (cinematography) A revelation; an uncovering of what was hidden.

I did not think of attaching it to "cinematography"--if anything, it should
be mystery writing (and, therefore, mystery films, but only by implication).

But I was wrong--the term is more widespread.

http://goo.gl/Kpv7z
Film directing fundamentals: see your film before shooting. By Nicholas T.
Proferes. 2004
REVEAL. p. 40
> The reveal is a narrative/dramatic element so pervasive that its power can
be underestimated by the beginning filmmaker because, in a sense, each shot
reveals something. However, what we are interested in here is the
/dramatic/ reveal--a reveal that has impact, that carries dramatic weight.
Examples of this are the horse's head in /The Godfather/ (Frances Ford
Coppola, 1972); the spaceship behind Richard Dreyfus's truck in /Close
Encounters of the Third Kind/ (Steven Spielberg, 1977), or the smaller, but
effective, reveal of the final form of the clay mountain that the Dreyfus
character finally succeeds in rendering in the same film; or the wonderful
reveal of the protagonist's face for the first time in /8-1/2/.

There is a bit more added in the 2008 edition, but it's just additional
examples. but it's not particularly common in GB--most hits for "the reveal"
are for the other kind (ADH4 1).


VS-)

On Fri, Apr 29, 2011 at 8:53 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:

>
> At 8:35 PM -0400 4/29/11, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> Notice:
>
> Obama produced his detailed Hawaii birth certificate Wednesday, and
> Trump eagerly took credit for the reveal.
>
> "the reveal"!  Love it!
>
> L

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